Hate and Honour
by Lou Jan Yun
Summary: A story of Kenshin's descent into madness at the beginning of the Bakumatsu. What motivates people to kill? Hate, honour or something else? The Shinsengumi, the Owinabanshu, the Ishin Shishi, Hiko and my own wild card character: Akane all play major r
1. Default Chapter Title

HATE AND HONOUR: THE MIND OF A KILLER  
PRELUDE  
PART ONE  
**************************************************  
  
The sun hung low over the horizon, illuminating the landscape in an  
eery, blood red glow.  
  
Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop.  
  
The horses travelled slowly along the dirt road, their flanks and   
legs covered with wounds, their heads hanging low towards the ground.  
Their riders were not much better off. Their armour hung loosely  
from their bodies and many sported gaping wounds hastily covered with  
blood soaked bandages. All were covered from head to toe from the  
white dust which swept through the desolate parched landscape.  
  
However, except for those so seriously wounded that they could barely  
sit on their horses, all of the soldiers sat with their backs straight  
and their heads held high.  
  
They were samurai after all.  
  
At the front of the hundred strong column of walking wounded rode the   
group's commander. He was an old man in his fifties, with greying   
hair, though that was hidden under the ever present white dust, and a   
craggy weather-worn face. He was only of average height and build  
yet the gentle brown eyes framed by a thicket of bushy eyebrows besoke  
of a quick intelligence and an inner steel that was almost frightening  
in its intensity.  
  
Behind him rode a young man who looked to be about twenty. His smooth  
youthful face was yet to be marred by battle scars or age and his eyes  
shone with a gentle dreaminess. Yet the way he held his body, the   
lines around his eyes and full lips showed that this dreamer was well  
acquainted with the horrors of reality.  
  
"Have you ever seen such a red sunset before, Captain Asuhara?"  
  
The young man looked startled for a moment at the sound of the   
General's voice. Quickly recovering, he smiled.  
  
"No I don't think I have." He looked around for a moment. "Its the   
dust I think. After all, this place is in the middle of its worse   
drought since the beginning of the Shogunate. The lack of moisture  
means that there is nothing to bind the dust to the Earth, and with  
today's high winds..."  
  
He paused for a moment as if considering something.   
  
"You know I've never noticed it before but I think this is the reason  
why everyone was so edgy yesterday evening when we first entered this   
area. Our horses are battle horses so they are used to seeing   
blood everywhere and they're not easily spooked but yesterday it was   
if they could sense something.....evil. Of course they're too exhausted   
to do anything now. But," he paused giving a pointed glance at the column  
some distance back. "It wasn't just the horses."  
  
"Yes," the General agreed. "A dead land and a dying sun spewing out  
its life blood. Whenever I look at the land I think that I am  
floating in a neverending sea of blood. This is hell..."  
  
"And we are the demons," mused the younger man. The General looked  
startled. He turned to face him. Their brown eyes met in   
confrontation. "Are we scared of the land or of ourselves? Covered  
with this white dust and in this light we all look like demons.  
Could it be that our consciences are punishing us for what we did   
back at that village?"  
  
The older man's lips thinned and his eyes flashed dangerously.  
"Natsu, you go too far. Those people were traitors...."  
  
"They were women and children!"  
  
"They were traitors. We are the Shogun's elite troops. Our  
ancestors all swore an oath to him. To keep our honour we must do  
whatever he orders no matter how personally distastful we find it."  
  
"So we live our lives for the Shogun? Do we mean nothing without  
the Shogun? So what we think, what we feel, do they all mean  
nothing, Father?" Natsu Asuhara spate out.  
  
"No we do not live for the Shogun. We live for honour and nothing  
else and this is what honour demands. As your Father I can forgive  
this outburst. Fortunately we are far ahead of the rest of the column  
so I don't think anyone else heard this discussion. But what you  
said is tantamount to treason and if the Shogun declares you a   
traitor..." His eyes narrowed. "Do not think that because I am your  
father that I will not be prepared to hunt you down."  
  
Natsu cast his father a distasteful look. "Despite what you think  
Father I understand honour all too well." He turned his horse around.  
"I want to go and check on some of the men."  
  
The General snorted. "Foolish boy...but he's right. I do these things  
for honour but..." he rubbed his hands roughly. Everyone thought  
that it was just a nervous habit but he knew better. In his mind  
his hands were dirty, unclean, but it was a dirtiness that he knew  
he could never erase, no matter how much he cleaned his hands.  
  
He held his dust covered hands out in front of him where the blood  
red sunlight made it look like his hands were covered with blood.   
In his mind he could feel the warm liquid slip through his  
fingers, he could taste the sharp metallic taste of blood that had   
been his constant companion these last forty years. Everything he  
ate and drank tasted like blood. Of their own accord he started  
to rub his hands together again but he knew that he could never  
clean off the blood for it was not his body that was stained but  
his mind and soul.  
  
Honour. All for honour as he reminded himself daily. Compared to   
what he had done for the Shogun, for honour in his long life,   
killing those villagers had been nothing. Honour that was all that  
mattered.  
  
Unconsciously he started to rub his hands again.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
A short time later a cloud of dust appeared on the horizon. All the  
men in the column stiffened, readying their katanas. However they  
all relaxed as they saw it was just a scout returning to make his  
report.  
  
Stopping his horse in a huge cloud of dust, the scout dismounted.  
Walking over to General Asuhara he bowed before making his report.  
  
"General, we found the village exactly where the map said we would.  
But..." the scout looked down at the ground.  
  
"But...?" asked the General.  
  
"Almost everyone in the village is dead."  
  
A strained silence passed over the small group of officers gathered  
to hear the scout's report.   
  
"How did they die?" asked one of the officers, a big burly man  
with a loud boisterous voice. His name was Ina Natsume.  
  
"We think it was disease?"  
  
"Is it contagious?" asked another officer, Hino Chikafusa  
  
"No. We think that it was some disease you get by drinking bad water.  
Cholera maybe. There's supposed to be a large river which runs by the  
village but because of the draught it is now only the size of a creek.  
There were a lot of dead bodies floating in the water."  
  
He paused for a moment before continuing. "It looked as  
if they were casulties from that large battle we fought against the   
insurgents more than a week ago."  
  
The General started speaking in his usual calm smooth voice "But   
there should be well in the middle of the village. Its a very  
deep well fed by underground springs. Surely..."  
  
The scout and all of the officers looked at the General in surprise.  
  
"Well...yes there was what looked like a well but it was covered with  
heavy iron doors and chains. For some reason it ws locked up so  
the villagers couldn't use it."  
  
The General's eyes narrowed. "Kajahara Gendo," he stated quietly  
almost to himself.  
  
Ina growled softly. "That bastard. He's the lord of this area isn't  
he? It would be just like him to lock up the well even though there's  
probably enough for him and the villagers."  
  
Hino nodded in agreement. "He probably kept the well water himself  
and forced the villagers to drink from the river, no matter that  
the water was probably dirty and brackish."  
  
"And then we sent all those bodies down the river." stated the  
younger Asuhara softly.  
  
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group.  
  
"And, there is nothing we can do about Kajahara's treatment of his  
villagers because according to law they are his serfs and he can  
do whatever he bloody likes with them as they are his property.  
Isn't that right General?" Asuhara Natsu gave his father a pointed  
look which the older man returned unblinkingly.  
  
The General looked thoughtfully at the scout, rubbing his hand gently  
together. "You said that *almost* everyone was dead. How many  
survived?"  
  
The scout suddenly found his feet very interesting. "Um...just one.  
A boy about 8 years old."  
  
General Asuhara lifted one bushy eyebrow. "And...? You're leaving  
something out Marubeni."  
  
"Well, the boy did gave us a slight bit of trouble..."   
  
**********************************************************************  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Default Chapter Title

HATE AND HONOUR: THE MIND OF A KILLER  
PRELUDE  
PART TWO  
*********************************************************************  
  
The smell grew stronger as they approached the village.  
  
It was the smell of death, of rotting corpses lying baking in the  
Sun, their eyes and mouths crawling with flies. As soldiers in the  
Shogun's army it was a smell that they were all familiar with.   
  
However no matter how many times your nostrils flared with the smell  
of putrifying flesh, you never got used to it. No matter how many  
battlefields you've seen, how many wars you fought you could never  
stop yourself from reflexly gagging as the smell of death reached  
your nostrils. That was why every one of the battle-hardened   
soldiers in his group had cloths wrapped around the lower halves of  
their faces.  
  
These thoughts wandered through the General's mind as they moved  
through the deserted main street of the village. Deserted that is if  
you didn't count the bodies clustered around the well in the centre  
of the street. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the heavy locks on  
the thick steel covering the entrance of the well.  
  
Everyone was walking. The horses were so spooked by the smell of   
death that it was impossible to ride them. Their eyes rolled and  
they made panicky grunting noises. They fought the urgent tugs of   
their masters as they tried to lead them through the village.   
However they were so exhausted that they could not put up much of a  
fight.  
  
'Animals instinctively avoid places of death yet men actively seek   
them out. Yet we call ourselves wiser than they,' thought the   
General as they approached the scout team who were waiting in what   
remained of what must have been the head villager's hut as it was the  
largest building in the village.  
  
Throwing the reins to one of the scouts he approached the lead scout,  
Chiba Baiko, a small light weasel of a man.   
  
"Your man tells me that these people died of bad water."  
  
Chiba nodded. "That's what we think. There *is* the locked well   
with all the bodies found around it and the river which is little   
more than a creek due to the drought is overflowing with dead bodies  
from the rebellion we just put down down South. Also there are no   
violent marks on any of the bodies except...well except for one woman   
near the East edge of the village near the forest. It looked like   
she had been stabbed quite a few times. That's where we found the   
kid."  
  
"Yes your man told me a little about him." The General chuckled. "I  
gather that he is quite...spirited."  
  
Chiba flushed. "Well...you could say that. We thought that the   
woman might have been hiding something, which was why  
the other villagers turned on her. We almost didn't see it, it was  
so well hidden. It was underneath a large tree, a dead one of course   
because of the drought. A hole just large enough to fit a fox  
- or a small child. One of my men reached into it to see if he  
could find the thing the woman hid. Well it turned out we did find  
it. He bit my man and every other man that tried to get him out of  
the hole."  
  
"How do you know that it was a child and not an animal?" the General  
asked.  
  
Chiba looked insulted. "Sir! I think that me and my men know the  
difference between a human bite and an animal bite!"  
  
"Hmmm." The General looked thoughtfully at the forest for a moment.  
  
"Sir," Chiba asked. "Sir what should we do now?"  
  
The General turned his gaze back to the scout leader. "Bury the   
bodies of course."  
  
"Of course. I'll get some men to dig a mass grave..."  
  
"No." Chiba looked startled. "I want individual graves for  
each corpse."  
  
Chiba knew better than the question the General so he just said,   
"Yes sir. If you would just follow me I'll take you to the camp we  
set up outside of the village."  
  
"No." The General looked at the forest. "Which tree is it?"  
  
The scout leader blinked in confusion. "Pardon?"  
  
"Which tree is the boy under?"  
  
"Um, the big tree next to that large rock." Chiba paused for a  
moment. "Um, sir, if you don't mind me asking..."  
  
"Yes I do actually. Get back to your duties."  
  
"Um yes sir."  
  
Chiba watched in confusion as the old General strode off in the  
direction of the forest.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
The General sat on the rock next to the tree and waited.  
  
Slowly the bright red sunset faded to be replaced by the dark blanket  
of night. Involuntarily the General shivered. He wasn't normally  
bothered by the dark, but there was something almost eery about   
tonight.   
  
Finally he realized what it was.   
  
There were no life. The night sky with its blood-red full moon was  
framed by the leafless branches of dead trees. There were no sounds   
of cicadas or bird. Of animals rustling in the undergrowth for food.   
There was not even any wind. It was the silence of  
the grave, surrounding him in its smothering embrace...  
  
"Why are you burying the bodies like that?"  
  
The General was almost startled by the small disembodied sound  
coming from the tree. He calmed down as he realized it must be the   
child.  
  
"What do you mean 'like that'?"  
  
"I mean each body in one grave. I'd thought that you would have   
just thrown them into some pit together - after all they *were* just  
serfs. It wasn't like they were samurai or rich or anything so its   
not as if they really mattered."  
  
The General stared intently at the dark hole at the base of the tree.  
The small childish voice was not filled with hate or fear as he   
might have expected. In fact the boy was as calm as if he was   
discussing his pet cricket.  
  
"Once everyone is dead they are just bodies. It doesn't matter what  
you were when you were alive - serf or samurai. The dead are all   
equals. Your lord may have not given them dignity when they were   
alive. How could I live with myself if I could not give them some  
dignity in death. No matter what someone was like when they were   
alive I believe that everyone should have the respect of a decent  
burial."  
  
"Are you a monk? You seem to respect life so much."  
  
"No. I am a bringing of death. I do not respect life so much as  
death. If I respected life I would not be burying bodies I would  
be saving them before it was necessary to do so."  
  
"I-I do not understand," the confusion made the boy sound more  
frightened more childlike unlike the unnatural calm he was talking  
with before.  
  
The General smiled wryly. "I hope you never will. Only someone  
with a blood-stained soul like mine could."  
  
There was a deep silence for a moment as neither man nor boy spoke.  
  
"Why don't you come out?" asked the General.  
  
"My mother told me not to."   
  
"I promise on my honour as a samurai not to let any harm come to you."  
  
"I saw them kill my mother you know." The almost unnaturally calm  
voice returned. "She had a little clean water, just a little. She  
gave it to me and told me to hide here and not come out no matter   
what I saw or heard. They killed her when she wouldn't tell them  
where I was. I saw them kill her."  
  
The General noticed that the boy had a clear view of the village   
square from his position.  
  
"They killed her but I don't blame them. They were desperate.   
Everyone was dying from the bad water. They wanted the good water  
from the well but it was locked up for the lord. One of his men  
came here to get some water. They begged and pleaded with him but  
he just laughed and said that they were just useless serfs, slaves  
and that the water was for the samurai only."  
  
"You seem very calm."  
  
"My mother always said that crying was only useful if there was   
someone waiting to rescue you. I cried a lot for the first few  
days then I realized that I was just wasting water. It was hard tp  
stop crying but now - I don't think that I can cry anymore even if  
I tried."  
  
"I take it that you are not going to take my word as a samurai?"  
asked the General wryly.  
  
"No. I hate them all. I want to kill them all. I want to destroy   
everything."  
  
The threat should have been laughable coming from a child, but for some  
reason the General, a battle hardened warrior shivered.  
  
"But if you offer your word as a person..."  
  
The General smiled, his misgivings melting away at the humour in the  
boy's voice. He must have just imagined the cold nightmarish   
emptiness in the boy's childish voice.   
  
"Then I, Asuhara Tendo promise you on my personal honour that I will   
not let any harm come to you if you stop hiding like a damn rabbit   
in its burrow!"  
  
"I accept."  
  
A few minutes later a small fragile little boy with bright red hair  
and deep violet eyes stood before him if a little unsteadily.   
  
He smiled up at him and spoke in a more natural childlike voice.  
  
"Hello. My name is Shinta."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
"What are you going to do with him?" Natsu asked his father.  
  
The boy known as Shinta sat by the fireside laughing merrily as  
one of the soldiers made shadow puppets for him.   
  
The General was still reeling from the remarkable change in Shinta.  
Gone was the flat emotionless voice and despairing almost adult  
words. Shinta had immediately charmed the whole camp with his  
beautiful smile and gentle kind ways. The General sighed. He could   
understand why the redhaired dimunitive boy was such a big hit  
with his men. He was just so cute! Hell, even *he* wanted to go  
over and pat him on the head, ruffle his unruly red hair and then  
give him a lolly to add to his growing collection.  
  
But back in the forest he had been anything but cute...That flat  
emotionless voice, it was what what he always imagined that Death  
would sound like. And coming from a child's mouth especially one  
as beautiful and gentle as this one...  
  
Shinta...a flower and Death incarnate. The General's eyes narrowed.  
There seemed to be two different souls in the one body. He was  
sure that the Shinta he was seeing now was the boy that existed   
before the death of his mother. The boy in the forest was born  
as he huddled in the darkness for days possibly weeks, seeing only  
death, breathing only death until the stench had seeped so  
deeply into his young pores that no amount of washing could ever  
remove it.  
  
The boy had been given a thorough bath but sometimes when his gaze  
turned towards the village or the forest, the General could almost  
see a glint of amber in his eyes and if he was close enough he  
could almost smell a waft of the stench of Death.  
  
'I want to kill everyone. I want to destroy everything.'  
'I don't think that I could cry anymore even if I tried.'  
  
The General's eyes narrowed as he rubbed his hands. It seemed that  
the gentle boy was now the dominant personality. But the General  
knew better than anyone else the power of the darkness that rested  
inside the human soul. But the boy was still so young, things  
could still be changed, the wounds festering on his soul could  
still be healed...Then maybe he could find some peace for his own  
soul.  
  
"Natsu!"  
  
Natsu, who had been rather unhonourably waving his hands in front of  
his father's face jumped backwards.  
  
"Um, yes Father, I mean General."  
  
"I plan to make Shinta my ward." Seeing the poleaxed expression on  
his son's face, General Asuhara rubbed his hands. "Do you have  
a problem with that."  
  
Blinking, Natsu recovered quickly. "Of course not Fat- err General!   
I whole-heartedly support your decision! Its just that I've never  
seen you take an interest in such matters before..."  
  
However his father was already moving towards the laughing red-haired  
boy.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
"Humph!" The men entertaining the little boy jumped to attention  
as they saw their leader standing in the firelight staring sternly at  
them.  
  
"General we had no..."  
  
"Please clear the area. I need to talk to the boy alone."  
  
The area around the fire cleared so quickly that the General could  
see the dust trails. It was not wise to cross the General  
when he stared or glared more accurately at you like *that*.  
  
"Hello General," Shinta smiled.  
  
The grey haired soldier sat down next to the small red haired boy.  
  
"Shinta. I was thinking about your future..."  
  
"If you could just leave me at the next village I would be very  
grateful," the little boy said staring into the fire.  
  
"Shinta." The small boy looked up curiously at the General's grey   
grizzled face. "I was wondering if you wanted to become my ward."  
  
A long painful silence stretched between man and boy.  
  
"Why? I'm just a serf."  
  
"Samurai or serf. Remember what I said. The dead are all equal."  
  
"What about the living?" Shinta asked.  
  
"I said that I respected the dead not the living. That I was a   
bringer of death. Maybe you could help me change that?"  
  
"Besides, didn't I promise to protect you?"  
  
Shinta's small brow frowned in concentration. Suddenly coming to  
a decision he smiled brightly at the old warrior. "Yes."  
  
The General couldn't help but return that innocent young smile.  
  
"Well if you are to be my ward you need a surname. Hmmm. How  
about Himura. It means 'to come from a village' and well you  
do come from a village..."  
  
"Himura Shinta," the small boy rolled the words around in his mouth.  
"Yes I like that. Thank-you."  
  
Without fear little Shinta climbed into the startled warrior's lap  
and kissed him on a wrinkled dusty cheek.  
  
The General flushed in what must have been more than twenty years.  
  
"Well, well. Let's not get too emotional here. Remember Shinta you  
must always act like a man and men do NOT go around kissing people on  
the cheek," the old man said rather gruffly. "So don't do it again."  
  
Man and boy laughed.  
  
"Well at least not too often."  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
"General! Someone's coming!"  
  
The young guard stood panting in the firelight.  
  
The whole atmosphere of the camp changed instantly from relaxed  
laziness to wary sharpness. Fortunately the General insisted  
that all his men always had their armour on, even when sleeping  
while on the field.  
  
"Stay here Shinta," the General spoke firmly as he strode to  
the gate.   
  
"Is this any way to greet a lord?" rang a voice from the darkness.  
  
Slowly the strangers came into view. There were about five of them.  
There leader was a huge man, dressed in black armour. He was about  
ten years younger than the General so his hair was still jet black  
though there were some streaks of grey. His face was almost   
beautiful in its perfection, but there was a sense of harshness and  
cruelty about the man that marred his physical perfection.  
  
"Lord Kajahara Gendo," breathed Natsu who was behind his father.  
  
Lord Kajahara smiled when he saw General Asuhara and his son. It  
wasn't a smile you particularly wanted to see unless you were several  
kilometeres away from the person who that smile belonged to.  
  
"Tendo." The entired camp stiffened at the dishonour displayed to   
their leader at his given name being used.  
  
However the General showed no signs of discomforture at the insult.  
  
"Lord Kajahara. I welcome you to my camp."  
  
"Really? Shouldn't *I* be welcoming you? After all, this *is* my  
land."  
  
The General heard his son mutter behind him. "How dare he! He can't  
treat guests like this!" However the General just smiled at   
the insult.  
  
"You killed my parents."  
  
The crowd of men parted to show the source of the comment. His head  
bowed, his long red fringe covering his eyes, Shinta repeated his  
comment.   
  
"You killed my parents. You wouldn't let any of us have any clean  
water. You said that we were serfs, subhuman unworthy!" The boy  
lifted his head, showing his furious violet eyes.  
  
Lord Kajahara smiled. "Ahhh. And what do we have here?" He   
motioned to one of his men. "Kill him."  
  
"Stop!" The General moved in front of Shinta. "He is *my* ward  
and he is under *my* protection."  
  
"Oh? Really? How can he be your ward when he is my - serf! *My*  
property!"  
  
"I won't let you - "  
  
"Won't? What authority do *you* have to tell me what to do? You are  
just a bastard! My father - " He regained control of himself. "You  
obviously care about this boy. For that reason and for that reason  
alone I will take this boy and make his life a living hell!"  
  
"No!" The General moved threateningly towards the younger man, his  
right hand on the hilt of his katana.  
  
"Come," Lord Kajahara smiled tauntingly. "I know that you are a  
better fighter than me. You have more men here. Attack me without  
reason to save this boy and destroy all the rules of samurai honour  
that you have lived your entire life by!"  
  
His teeth grinding, his face contorted with rage, the General stared  
at the younger man. Finally with a sigh of defeat he relaxed his  
stance and let his right hand drop to his side."  
  
Shinta stared open mouthed at the sight of the General's surrender.  
  
"No! You promised me! You promised you would protect me! You  
promised."  
  
He tugged at the older man's sleeve.  
  
"Don't leave me like everyone else!"  
  
For the first time since he was a child standing over his mother's  
grave General Asuhara Tendo felt like crying. "I'm sorry Shinta,  
it'd be different if I wasn't a samurai but the rules of my class...  
I'm sorry."  
  
The General turned around in surprise as he felt Shinta suddenly  
let go of his sleeve.  
  
He stood there, his head bowed, his long red fringe hiding his eyes.  
  
"So, I am alone again."  
  
The General's eyes widened as he lifted his head. Staring back at   
him were not Shinta's gentle violet eyes but the harsh cold amber eyes   
of the spririt he met under a dead tree in a dead forest.  
  
"You lied to me," the flat emotionless voice was now the one he   
remembered from the forest. "You lied to me just as the Shogun and   
his samurai lied to my village. You promised to protect me just as they   
promised to protect my village. "  
  
He smiled, a cold evil smile that made the General shiver.  
  
"I hate you all. I *will* kill you all!"  
  
As he watched Lord Kajahara lead Shinta away in chains, a single  
tear dropped down his cheek. Not for him but for a little boy  
he could have saved if only he had the will to defy the teachings  
of a lifetime.  
  
"I'm sorry...Shinta."  
  
He shivered as he remembered those cold amber eyes. He had a   
terrible feeling that the boy he had known as Shinta had disappeared  
forever.  
  



	3. Default Chapter Title

HATE AND HONOUR  
****************  
CHAPTER ONE  
************  
  
Kenshin would never forget the moment he first saw Kyoto. The Sun   
was shining with a fierce cheerfullness that seemed to clear the  
sky of the dark rain clouds and the heavy spring rain that had  
plagued the countryside for more than a week.   
  
Having only just turned 14 and  
being small for his age, the tiny red-head could've been easily   
mistaken for a young peasant boy - if it wasn't for the leather   
guards tied firmly around his wrists and the swords which he kept   
firmly by his side.  
  
He was contemplating his rather threadbare shoes when he reached   
the crest of the large hill he had been climbing for the last ten   
minutes. As he glanced upwards from the ground he saw the City   
of a Thousand Years for the first time.   
  
Dropping his small bag of possessions, he just stared. Houses   
stretched out as far as the eye could see and beyond. There were   
people *everywhere*. For a 14 year old peasant boy who had never   
seen a city before and who had spent the last six years on the top   
of a mountain alone with a grumpy sword master the sight of one of   
the largest masses of humanity in Japan was breathtaking.  
  
This was Kyoto, this was where he would find the Ishin Shishi,   
where he would help destroy the Shogunate and in the process build   
a better Japan where what happened to him could never happen to   
anyone again. Unfamiliar feelings of anticipation, happiness and   
hope stirred in a heart and mind only used to pain, hatred and   
lonliness.  
  
He may be penniless, he may be carrying all his world possessions   
in a small cloth bag, he may have broken off all relations with   
the only friend he had in the world but at this particular moment   
Kenshin was unbelievably, deleriously happy.  
  
Picking up his fallen bag, he started towards Kyoto, towards the   
future with a spring to his step and a smile on his face.  
  
For Kenshin, spring had finally arrived.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
The first thing to hit him was the noise. Kenshin was used to the   
quiet of the mountain where he and his master had trained and before   
that the small village where he was born. But now he was in one of   
the largest cities in Japan and there were people making noises   
everywhere - shouting, yelling, laughing.   
  
The second thing he noticed was the smell, that pungent smell which   
came from having tens of thousands of sweaty dirty human and animal   
bodies confined in a small area. It wasn't just his inexperience   
with large crowds, his senses were heightened to the utmost human   
limit by his years of training with his master. He was beginning to   
understand why Hiko Seijuro kept away from large cities as much as   
possible (and insisted that he kept quiet as much as possible and   
had regular baths).   
  
There had been only one other time where he had been exposed to that   
much noise and similar smells - when he had been a slave. As usual   
when thoughts of the past came up Kenshin's subconcious quickly and   
ruthlessly put them down again. He liked to think that his life   
began when he first met Hiko. Everything else before that was a blur,   
like a nightmare so horrible that your subconscious supresses all   
memories of it the moment you wake up. However even if you couldn't   
remember it you still feel that horrible sense of uneasiness and fear   
which tells you that something happened that was horribly horribly   
wrong.  
  
For a moment he wanted to flee, to get away from the city with its   
noise and smell and go back to his Master. "Baka" he told himself   
fiercely. "How are you supposed to change anything if you can't even   
cope with one small city."  
  
With his goals set firmly in his mind, Kenshin moved forward into the   
marketplace.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
He found that you got used to the smell and the noise after a while.   
To someone with Kenshin's heightened senses you could never ever   
really ignore it completely but it *did* fade into the background of   
his mind.  
  
At first Kenshin just walked dazedly through the marketplace   
literally gaping at the magnificant buildings lining it (well for a   
boy who had only ever seen huts before the rather decript old   
buildings *were* impressive). However, after bumping into half a   
dozen people who had all given him rather dirty looks, Kenshin   
decided that he should really pay attention to where he was going.  
  
At that precise moment, his stomach started growling.   
  
Having lived with Hiko Seijuro for six long years, a man who for   
all his greatness tended to be rather scatter-brained when it came   
to life's little necessities, such as food (which really didn't   
matter to Hiko himself, since he seemed to be able to survive on   
sake alone, leaving Kenshin to wonder if his Master wasn't really   
a God after all) Kenshin was rather used to fending for himself -   
and going hungry when he couldn't catch dinner (whenever he   
complained, his Master always said it was part of his "training"   
leaving Kenshin to invariably retort that he couldn't see how   
learning to fish and set traps was part of the Hiten Mitsurigi   
technique). However he hadn't eaten for two days now, and his   
stomach was letting him know its displeasure.  
  
He stared yearningly at the hot buns cooking at a nearby stand.   
He could almost taste the sweet tender meat melting in his mouth...  
  
With an instinct born of years of selling buns, the stall-owner   
could almost *sense* potential customers. With an unerring nose   
for a sale he turned his gape-toothed smile to the young lad   
standing next to his stand, almost drooling over his merchandise.  
  
"So m'boy, would ye like a bun. Straight from the oven I tells   
you. Pipin' hot and ready to just melt in ye mouth. And just   
'cause ye look like an honest lad I'll only charge ye half price.   
How 'bout that?"  
  
Kenshin stared yearningly at the food, his better instincts   
fighting with his need for sustenance. With his god-like speed he   
could grab a bun, heck he could grab ten buns and be out of sight   
before the stall keeper could feel the wind from his movements.   
  
After a glorious and protracted inner battle Kenshin sighed and   
smiled sadly at the stall-keeper.  
  
The smile fell off the stall-keepers wrinkled face faster than   
a battou-jutsu.  
  
"Yar," he snarled. "Gets away from me stand ye good for nothin'   
penniless ronin."  
  
Kenshin rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Sorry sir. Actually   
I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find the Ishin   
Shishi -"  
  
With almost god-like speed the old man had trundled off with his cart,   
leaving only dust trails and a rather confused red head in his wake.  
  
"Oro? Was it something I said?"  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
  
Kenshin slumped to the ground in exhaustion and defeat. He leaned   
his head against the wooden wall behind him and sighed. For the   
last hour he had been asking various people about the Ishin Shishi   
and each time they gave him the same answer - a quick denial followed   
by a rapid trail of dust.  
  
It was not meant to be this way. He had expected the streets to be   
lined with supporters of the Revolution, all eager to reform a corrupt   
and oppressive government. Instead he had found an atmosphere of   
almost palatable fear.  
  
Obviously, the Ishin were in hiding from the despotic forces of the   
Bakufu. This Kenshin could understand. After all, the Ishin were   
seen by the Shogunate as enemies and thus would naturally be   
prosecuted by those forces loyal to the Shogun. What Kenshin didn't   
understand was the indifference or even hatred that he could sense   
underneath the fear.  
  
Why would the ordinary people not care about or even hate the Ishin   
Shishi? In adventure stories in the end the oppressive lord or   
demon would always be defeated by the good samurai. But no matter   
how evil the lord was, the fighter's code of honour meant that it   
always came down to single armed combat between the bad lord and   
the good samurai in a ring following the rules of combat in which   
no innocents were ever hurt. The important thing was that everyone   
always loved the good guy and hated the bad guy. The Shogunate   
were the bad guys and the Ishin were the good guys so why this   
undercurrent of indifference and hatred...?  
  
Kenshin's fourteen year old brain started to hurt.  
  
Almost out of reflex his right hand shot out and grabbed that of   
the young pickpocket beside him.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
In his absent-mindedness, Kenshin jerked at the slight figure harder   
than he expected causing him to stumble, his loose fitting cap   
falling easily off his head to the ground, revealing the he-thief to   
be a very pretty female one. The long braid she had coiled underneath   
the ragged cap fell down her back. Obeying the training that his Master   
had spent many years beating (literally!) into him he secured his   
prisoner by wrapping the long braid around his right wrist.  
  
All this was done with an almost automated impersonal efficiency. At   
last Kenshin looked up from his personal misery. His warm violet eyes   
widened as he got his first real look at his prisoner.  
  
Kenshin knew that his colouring was strange. However it had never   
really bothered him until he had got to Kyoto as for as long as he   
could remember, his only companion had been his Master and it was   
hard to feel inferior because of physical differences when there was   
only two people around. (Actually Hiko was having too much fun teasing   
his student about looking like a girl to comment about his strange   
colouring). It had only been when he had started encountering large   
groups of people did he realize how different he was. However his   
training with Hiko stood him in good stead as after years of trying   
to evade Hiko in his "training trips" in the dense forest surrounding   
their shack meant that he now almost intuitively tried to conceal   
his presence from the minds of those around him.  
  
While Kenshin's hair and eyes were all warmth and fire, this girl's   
colouring was glacial ice. The braid wrapped around his wrist was   
like a silken rope of white gold. Astonishingly for a street-kid her   
skin was extremely fair which only made the pink of her lips and her   
cheeks stand out. In stark contrast to her snow-white hair, her eyes   
which were framed by very dark lashes and brows indicating that she   
wasn't born with that strange hair, were almost jet black. Also   
unusual was that she was extremely clean. Though her fair skin   
was covered with dirt and her clothes were ragged she lacked that   
stench that seemed to emanate from the street-people Kenshin had   
already encountered. A stench that came from going months without   
a bath except when it rained.   
  
Normally Kenshin would have found this very suspicious except that   
at this particular moment in time he was too entranced to think about   
any thing else. He fingers almost unconciously stroked the silken   
strands of moonlight he held about his wrist while his violet eyes   
captured and held her jet black ones. A pink flush started to spread   
slowly across her cheeks.   
  
The two teenagers' mutual trance was broken as someone jostled   
Kenshin on the shoulder. As the girl came to her senses she started   
struggling against Kenshin's firm hold on her hair.  
  
"Hey you baka, let me go! Hey wait!" she whispered savagely as the   
annoying red-head stole the money that she had already rightfully   
stolen.  
  
"What do you think you're doing you - "  
  
Kenshin shrugged. "I'm taking back the money you stole."  
  
"Hmm." the girl harrumphed as she finally gave up on her efforts to   
escape the red-headed boy's firm grasp. "I suppose that you're going   
to hand me in to the police?"  
  
Kenshin smiled and shook his head.  
  
"Well then I suppose you're going to lecture me on how its wrong to   
steal."  
  
Kenshin sighed and let go of her hair. He pressed a few copper coins   
into her hand. The strange girl stared at her nemesis for a moment as   
if he was another form of life.  
  
"Look this is all I have. I know that you can't buy much with it but   
well - it is all I have. Take it."  
  
The girl drew back in shock for a moment. Suddenly inspiration struck.  
  
"Hey I get it! You want to take all that money yourself! Look I'm   
sure we can come up with a deal."  
  
Kenshin turned around and smiled gently at the little thief. "I'm   
taking it back to its owner."  
  
The girl started to look annoyed. "What are you, the Goddess of   
Mercy or something?"  
  
Kenshin stopped smiling at that. "Is this because I look like a   
girl?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
The little thief looked taken aback. "No! What on Earth are you   
talking - actually now that you've mentioned it, you do look like a   
girl. *Are* you a girl?"  
  
"No!"  
  
She shrugged. "Hey you brought the subject up. What I meant was -   
you're not serious about taking that money back?"  
  
"Yes I am."  
  
"But you don't even know who I took it from!" she almost wailed.  
  
"Well I'm sure he'll come back - "  
  
"THIEF!"  
  
Relief flooded through Kenshin. He hadn't actually thought about how   
to get the money back to its rightful owner. He just knew that it   
was the right thing to do. That last line was something he made up   
at the last moment to stop himself from looking stupid. Inwardly he   
sighed. His Master always told him that his worst trait was his   
impatience which led him to rush headlong into things without thinking   
and once again he had proved Hiko right. Also according to Hiko his   
second worst trait was his stubborness which was once again in full   
force as while all these thoughts were going on in his subconscious,   
his conscious mind refused to admit that he had once again rushed   
into things.   
  
"Sir, here is your - "  
  
"STOP YOU RED-HEADED THIEF!"  
  
"ORO!!!"  
  
The fat red-faced merchant ploughing his way to them through the   
thick market crowd was followed by what looked like to be some very   
dangerous, very angry thugs, probably his personal body-guards who   
would naturally be annoyed at the supposed thief because it was very   
likely that they would lost their jobs for allowing their master to   
be pickpocketed.  
  
The little girl thief took all this in in a moment's glance (well   
she did have a lot of experience on irate victims to work on) while   
Kenshin just stood there looking shocked.  
  
She flipped one of the coins that he had given her. 'Hmmm heads.   
Oh well too bad red-head. If it had been tails I would have saved   
you. Oh damn it!'  
  
With an exasperrated snort she grabbed the stunned boy by his   
ponytail and started dragging him off at full speed.  
  
"Orororororororo......!"  
  
The pain brought Kenshin back to his senses. Regaining his sense of   
balance he started running besides his earstwhile saviour. They took   
so many twists and turns that soon even Kenshin, with his fine-tuned   
sense of his immediate environment was lost.  
  
Eventually the two teenagers stopped running. The both collapsed   
gasping to the ground.   
  
"Where- are -we?" Kenshin asked between breaths.  
  
The girl sniffed the air delicately and pressed the side of her   
face against the wooden wall she was leaning on. "I believe we   
are behind a brothel."  
  
"What on earth makes you say that?!!"  
  
"Well, can't you smell the perfume?"  
  
"Well yes, but that doesn't mean that we're behind a whorehouse!"  
  
The girl beckoned Kenshin towards her. "Press your ear against this   
wall."  
  
Kenshin obeyed her. His face started to turn as red as his hair and   
he scooted away from the wall as if it was on fire.   
  
"Well....."  
  
"Err. I think you're right."  
  
The girl chuckled at Kenshin's red face. "You are so naive." At   
Kenshin's wounded expression she hurredly added. "Not that that isn't   
very endearing of course."  
  
"Huumph." He turned his face away from her.   
  
However his glorious moment of wounded pride was ruined by the growling   
of his stomach. The girl reached inside her tunic and pulled out two   
buns, one of which she threw to Kenshin.  
  
Kenshin looked suspiciously at the food for a moment. "This isn't   
stolen is it?"  
  
The girl raised a delicate eyebrow. "And what if it is?"  
  
Kenshin sighed. He looked longingly at the food. His stomach growled   
again. He started handing the bun back to her. She pushed his hand away.  
  
"Look. I promise you it *isn't* stolen." At his suspicious look she   
put on what she thought was a masterful look of wounded pride. "Geez.   
There's no trust now-adays. None-at-all."  
  
Kenshin looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry."  
  
"And so you should be. Now just eat your bun."  
  
As Kenshin ripped into the bun with all the enthusiasm of a starving   
man (actually he *was* a starving man) the white-haired girl looked   
down at her own food.  
  
'Oh well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him.'  
  
As they munched in mutual companionship Kenshin tried to strike a   
conversation with the strange girl.   
  
"So, um, what's your name if you don't mind me asking."  
  
"Its Akane." It wasn't unusual for poor people to have only one   
name so Kenshin let this pass. She glanced sideways at him with her   
pupiless dark eyes. "What's yours."  
  
"Oh its Himura, Himura Kenshin."  
  
"Nice to meet you Kenshin."  
  
"Thanks." Kenshin laughed. "Though I suppose it could have been under   
better circumstances."  
  
"You mean better than you catching me robbing a rich merchant only to   
have him accuse you of the crime and then being chased through the   
mean streets of Kyoto by his thugs?"  
  
"Really? I've always thought that running madcap through the streets,   
getting hopelessly lost and ending outside of a brothel was the   
perfect way to spend the evening with a pretty girl. Oops."  
  
Kenshin's face started burning again as he suddenly realized the   
possible interpretation of the last part of his statement.  
  
He smiled nervously. "Um sorry."  
  
To his relief Akane started laughing softly. "You silly baka."  
  
Their combined laughter echoed along the dark dirty alleyway.  
  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
After the children's composure returned they returned to attacking  
their food with renewed fervour. After his inital hunger was sated  
Kenshin found himself looking more and more frequently at his   
strange companion.  
  
Due to the nature of his upbringing, training everyday in the art, the  
young boy had had very little contact with the opposite sex, actually  
if the truth was told very little contact with anyone besides his   
Master. This was due not so much to the remoteness of the   
ramshackled hut he had called home  
for half of his young life - it was not *that* far from Kyoto and had  
several villages surrounding its base as to the instringent and   
hostile nature of his Master. Hiko Seijuro made it *very* clear   
that he did *not* welcome uninvited visitors to his mountain retreat.   
  
However the few times he had gone to visit one of the villages,   
usually when Hiko was too lazy to get the supplies he had heard whispers  
that "The Grave of the Dragon", the name given to the mountain  
by the locals was - haunted, which was why noone ever went up there  
anyway even when Hiko was gone.  
  
When he was younger the thought that there might have been ghosts   
haunting his home, watching him as he practiced, as he slept terrified  
him. He had been almost afraid to sleep as he had heard tales that  
ghosts could steal your life force as you slept. He had tried to hide  
his fears from his Master for as long as possible, fearful of Hiko's  
acid tongue and almost expected derision. However after the night he  
wet his bed after he dreamed of a horrible ugly ghost sucking out his  
life force, instead of teasing him, Hiko had stayed up everynight with  
his young student, filling his sleepy head with stories of brave samurai  
fighting demons to save beautiful princesses, wonderful magical tales  
that drove out the imaginery specters that haunted his young childish  
mind until eventually like all children all memories of his night  
fears had vanished.  
  
Kenshin had almost started liking his Master at this point - until  
Hiko tripled his "baka deshi"'s workload for a month as punishment  
for wetting the bed.  
  
During these infrequent trips Kenshin had met several females.  
However for some reason he had always felt so tongue-twisted and  
shy amongst them. Maybe this was because of his training, the only  
way he knew how to express himself was through being "manly"  
(Kenshin scowled as a mental image of Hiko pointing at himself came  
to mind) ie. fighting. He had no idea how to handle the young girls  
giggling at him and pointing at him. He felt he was being insulted  
but he couldn't exactly challenge them to a fight. (Kenshin would  
have been more worried if he had actually heard what they where  
saying, the phrase "Oh, he's so cu-u-ute" being the predominate one).  
Whenever he met a girl he felt he had to put on his best best most  
polite behaviour because they were *ladies* and so he was always  
relieved to leave their presence.  
  
However with Akane he felt different...He could be himself with no  
worries about false politeness and stiffness. Maybe it was   
because she acted naturally, not with the contrived "cuteness"  
and weakness that Japanese girls were supposed to put to "catch  
husbands". Kenshin understood why they had to do this to survive  
but he hated lies and deceit above all else. His heart desired to  
seek the truth of things and with Akane she showed him her true self.  
She was strong enough not to hide behind a false mask. No  
secrets could be hidden from his Hiten Mitsurigi Ryu training and  
all his senses were telling him she was genuine.  
  
Yet...yet there was still something about her that made him  
slightly uneasy. It was...suddenly she turned her face towards  
him, a smile on her lips and on her - eyes! Yes that was it, her  
eyes. To read a person, to find their true self, you could  
read their body language, their eyes and their chi. Body language  
was the weakest as with proper training one could control one's  
reactions almost perfectly. However the eyes often gave the game  
away as it was impossible to control the dilation and contraction  
of the pupil, the change in the colour of the iris. Yet with this  
girl her eyes were pure black. There were no pupils. The emotions  
on the rest of her face did not reflect in her eyes. When she  
smiled with her face and body her eyes reflected nothing, no emotion  
whatsoever.   
  
"Oi Kenshin, what's the matter?"  
  
He felt the cool air drift across his face as Akane waved her hands  
in front of them.  
  
"Oro?"  
  
"You looked like someone had stolen your soul or something. You  
had a really blank look in your eyes."  
  
Yes that's what they were, blank eyes, souless eyes, as dark  
as the abyss.  
  
Yet as he extended his senses to take in her chi nothing alarming  
registered. She felt absolutely normal, her chi reflected her  
body language perfectly. No-one could control their chi that much  
that they could project something they didn't feel. They could  
hide their feelings but you could sense the cloaking very easily  
and he could make no sense of any such behaviour in Akane's chi.  
Kenshin shook his head in self disgust at his paranoia.  
  
He laughed, embarrassed. "Sorry, sorry I was just thinking...um"  
  
"...about what you're doing here?" Akane finished for him.  
  
"Yes yes of course," he said, grateful for the excuse she gave him.  
  
"So what *are* you doing in the big city, farm boy?"  
  
Kenshin frowned. "Heh don't call me that. I'm a swordmaster not  
a farmboy."  
  
"Whatever," she said in a tone that was obviously condescending.  
  
Kenshin didn't feel like arguing right now so he continued talking  
about his plans. "I plan to join the Ishin Shishi."  
  
Silence filled the corridor as the white haired girl blinked.  
"So what are you going in the big city, farm boy?"  
  
Kenshin frowned. "I already told you! I'm joing the Ishin  
Shishi!"  
  
"Well I was hoping that I heard wrong the first time."  
  
The young girl sighed, folding her arms as she stared down  
at the floor obviously thinking about something difficult.  
Suddenly she looked up at Kenshin a mocking smile on her  
face.  
  
"Give it up farm boy. You're just a kid. Go home and leave  
the serious stuff to the men."  
  
Kenshin took great afront at this. "Hey. I am not a kid! I'm  
um um seventeen!"  
  
He stretched out to his full height (which wasn't much), sticking  
back his skinny shoulders in what he obviously thought was a  
macho stance.  
  
Akane poked him in the ribs. "Yeah right, you're 12 tops."  
  
Kenshin's face grew red. "Hah, I'd like you to know that I've  
just turned 14 - Oops" He covered his mouth but it was too late.  
  
Another smiled lighted on the girl's face, however this time  
it was her normal mishchievous smile rather than the harsh  
mocking smile of before.  
  
"Hah I'm older than you. Since I've been 14 for 6 months you  
should call me Nee-san."  
  
Indignant, the young red head boy stuck his face close to the  
young white haired girl's. "No way. Since I'm a sword-master  
and you're just a streetkid you should call *me* Himura-sama."  
  
Akane raised an eyebrow. "Himura-*sama*??"  
  
Kenshin pulled back, his face as red as his hair. "Um, it *is* a  
bit ridiculous isn't it?"  
  
The girl just snorted before collapsing in a wild burst of laughter.  
"Himura-*sama*! Himura-*sama*!??"  
  
"Oh stop laughing at me," Kenshin said, throwing a piece of bun  
at her.  
  
After she finally calmed down, Akane sat down on a box next to   
Kenshin. The alley way was full of large wooden crates and the two  
children had been using them as makeshift seats.  
  
She stared at the opposing wall for a moment before speaking. Her   
voice was deeper and less childish than her normal voice, and without  
the scorn and harshness or the voice she had used to mock him earlier.   
Kenshin started as recognized this as her "serious" voice.  
  
"Kenshin don't join the Restoration," she stated still looking at  
the wall.  
  
"Why?" he answered simply, also not looking at her.  
  
Akane sighed. "Why do you want to?"  
  
"I-I really don't know where to start. I don't really care about  
the politics. I-I just want to help people. So many people  
suffering, so many people dying, starving in the fields as corrupt  
lords feast. So many of them dying as fodder in those stupid  
inane wars that the lords are always fighting amongst themselves  
and which the Shogun encourages to keep a check on their power.   
And you know what the worse thing is. The oppressors, the tyrants  
the samurai all look down on the peasants on us as non-humans.  
They feel no guilt for what they do because they don't even consider  
us to be human to be worthy of life or honour or dignity. That's the  
whole problem - why so many innocents are suffering - because the ones  
in power don't even consider us to be human. I want  
to stuff their stupid feudal system down their throats until it  
choaks them! I'm sure once its gone everything will be fine...I  
don't believe people are inherantly bad. Once the feudal system is  
gone and everyone looks around and realizes that the peasant is  
as human as a lord and has as much right to live a full decent life..."  
  
"Rubbish." Akane interrupted. "People are born bad. Once the  
system is gone its still a matter of the strong trampling over the  
weak. That's the way its always been and always will be. The system  
just gives the strong an excuse to tyrannize those weaker than   
themselves. Once its gone they'll just find another excuse so   
your idealistic sacrifice would have been for nothing."  
  
Kenshin smiled softly shaking his head. "No. I don't believe  
that. I have faith - in human nature."  
  
"Well I don't." She suddenly turned around to face the boy.   
"You know Kenshin this will mean war."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"That's what you say but do you have any concept of what war means?"  
She looked at him forcefully. "Have you ever killed anyone?"  
  
"Of course not! What do you think I am?! I'm a bit young to be  
a murderer."  
  
Akane smiled "Killing in a duel of honour is not murder."  
  
"Well yes, that's what my master always says, but I never really  
liked the idea. I always thought I'd think about it when it   
actually happened..."  
  
Akane sighed. "Kenshin, its obvious to me that you are not a   
killer. And in a war - only the killers survive. You wouldn't  
even survive the first battle."   
  
Kenshin blinked. "Are-are you worried about me?"  
  
Akane turned bright red. "Of course not you numbskull! I-I,"  
her words faltered at the warmth and honesty in his violet eyes.  
"Well OK so I am. But don't think I like you or nothin'. Its  
just one doesn't meet many genuine good people with the life I've  
had and I don't want one of the few I've met to throw his life  
away on some stupid idealistic cause!"  
  
"I am NOT going to throw my life away. I'm a swordmaster!"   
  
"Look, swinging a rusty sword a few times around your grandfather's  
yard does NOT make you a swordmaster!"  
  
"Hey I've spent - "  
  
"SO AKANE! I'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU! PREPARE TO DIE!"   
  
The two children turned as one to stare at the entrance to the alley  
where a gigantic man whose thighs alone were thicker than either one of  
the two youngsters. Surrounding him were at least twenty ruffians   
and thugs each sporting a wicked looking katana. They were one  
of the many ronin gangs which terrorized Kyoto.   
  
"Oh boy," Akane whispered underneath her breath. "What I wouldn't  
give to see the Shinsengumi right now."  
  
She turned to her shocked companion. "Kenshin run quickly. They just  
want me. If you run."  
  
"No."  
  
She slapped herself on the head. "Stupid, stupid, we're in a blind  
alley. Well stack those crates and you should be able to climb to the  
top."  
  
With that she turned to face the enemy. "So Godo Razan.   
Is something the matter? You look a bit upset?"  
  
"I am going to KILL you you white haired BITCH for stealing MY  
money!"  
  
"Hey it wasn't your money in the first place and besides I  
think buying medicine to save someone's life was a much better  
use of it than you spending it on drinks and whores you  
overgrown piece of dog-turd."  
  
"RRRRRRR!!! I am going to kill you now Akane!"  
  
Akane was smiling grimly. She firmly gripped the poisoned needles  
inside her belt as the men charged her. Thugs like Godo Razan  
were so easy to rile. She loved killing garbage like him and  
his little buddies.  
  
She felt a small warm hand on her shoulder. 'Kenshin! He hadn't left  
yet. How was she supposed to kill Godo. Hell, how was she supposed  
to protect him and herself while he was here?' She couldn't  
use the needles with him around.   
  
'Oh know,' she groaned inwardly as she heard him draw his sword. 'The  
stupid idealistic idiot is going to try to save me. Does he even know  
how to use that sword? Damnit I'll have to use the needles in front  
of him. I can't let him - '  
  
As the thugs approached, Akane felt a rush of air beside her and  
suddenly Kenshin was no longer by her side but in the middle of   
the bunch of thugs. His sword flashed and glittered in the sunlight  
as it streaked through the air, the cool hard steel colliding with  
flesh and bone usually to the detriment of the later. Sounds of bones  
breaking and cries of agony filled the air. However strangely enough  
there was no blood. Wait - no blood?!   
  
Akane sighed with relief as she saw that her friend was using the  
blunt side of his katana. For some strange reason she didn't want to  
see the innocent naive idealistic red-head become a killer. Of course  
it wasn't because she cared about him. It was just that he was one  
of the few genuinely good people she had ever met and she didn't want...  
  
As the huge shadow passed over her her one thought was. 'Uh oh.'  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
Kenshin was having a great deal of fun. He had fought with a few   
bandits on his way to Kyoto but never with so many at once! He  
loved the art of Musashi, the feel of the sword as it swung through  
the air, the thrill of power that ran down his spine as he felt  
the sword become an extension of himself.   
  
Of course he was playing with the thugs. He could have brought all  
of them down seconds after he started fighting but he wanted to play!  
  
He gave the thugs a brief respite as he flew out of the groaning,  
bruised and battered huddle of flesh. Suddenly an idea came to him.  
Striking a pose he had seen Hiko do many times he placed his katana  
over his left shoulder and gave his beaten victims a dazzling smile  
Hiko style (sparkling teeth and all). 'I can see why Master likes   
doing this pose so much. Its  
so much fun! And so annoying to the person you've just beaten (he  
should know, having had it done to *him* countless times)'.  
  
Suddenly, a scream of terror rang through the air. Kenshin twirled  
his body around so fast the air current knocked a crate to the ground.  
  
His mind froze at the tableau laid out in front of him. While   
Kenshin had been distracted, "playing" with his men, the leader  
of the gang had sneaked up on the also distracted Akane. He  
had both her wrists firmly in the grasp of one huge beefy hands  
as he raised his katana above her head.  
  
After her initial scream, Akane had gone as stiff as a corpse.  
Her face was frozen in a study of terror and panic and the only  
sounds coming out of her mouth were low moans of a long  
hidden pain brought into the open. "No. Please not again,  
not again, not again..."  
  
Godo had no idea what the little brat was mumbling about but he  
didn't really care either. "DIE!" he screamed as he brought  
the katana down in a smooth powerful arc of death.  
  
A door long hidden in Kenshin's subconcious suddenly burst wide open.  
as another woman's screams and terror filled his mind's eye.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
"DIE!" the crowd screamed as the knifes and swords flashed again  
and again.  
  
"DIE! DIE! DIE YOU BITCH!"  
  
The woman was not dead when she collapsed to the ground so she  
felt everyone of the blades that pierced her flesh, every bit  
of pain.   
  
"Hey she's not dead yet."  
  
The village foreman spat on the bloody body. "Let the bitch  
bleed to death. She deserves it for giving her brat all  
her water and then hiding them."  
  
Soon the crowd had dispersed leaving only the woman, slowly  
drowning in a pool of her own blood.  
  
"Shinta..." she whispered.  
  
The little boy hidden in the hollow under the huge tree by  
the village square started from his curled position with  
his thumb in his mouth.  
  
"Mother."   
  
He wanted to see mother. He wanted to help her.  
  
"Shinta...Don't...come out...you're...not...strong..."  
  
"Mother, mother" he cried. But he knew her words were  
true. He wasn't strong enough to do anything except watch  
her die.  
  
And she had taken a long time to die.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
Finally Akane screamed again. And that scream reverberated  
and the terror on her face reverberated in Kenshin's mind  
until suddenly it was not just her screaming but also three  
young girls who saved him at the expense of their own lives  
and the terror of her face was the face of his...mother.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
He had laid hidden in the hollow. The only thing he had  
was a little top, his favourite toy and a small bottle of  
drinking water. This was what the villagers had wanted. The  
water in the river was bad and killed people. It had killed  
Daddy. The well was locked by the bad people, the people  
they called lords.   
  
He laid in his foetal position for days his thumb stuck firmly  
in his mouth. His eyes shone in the darkness. He didn't  
sleep because if he slept the ghosts would come and take  
away his soul. That was what Izo said and Izo was 12 so he  
should know. But of course Izo was dead now. Everyone was  
dead except him. He could hear it he could smell it.  
  
Maybe Izo was a ghost now and would come and suck out his  
life.  
  
But what was worse than the sounds of the dying was the  
silence. Now he knew for certain he was alone.  
________________________________________________________  
  
All he could think about were his mother's last words.  
  
"...you're...not...strong..."  
  
He cried because he knew that if he was stronger mummy wouldn't  
have died, Izo wouldn't have died. Daddy wouldn't have died.  
No-one would have died...if he was strong enough.  
  
_________________________________________________________  
  
Days passed but to Shinta underground in the dark day and night  
were as one. In his young mind all memories of mummy loving  
him and kissing him and daddy throwing him into the air  
were gone. In its place were only the images of Daddy dying,  
of Mummy slowly bleeding to death. Only the smell of death  
the sound of death, the sight of death filled his mind.  
  
He tried to cry. But no tears would come. And they never  
would come again because...death did not cry. And death  
had become his world.  
  
____________________________________________________________  
  
So the young boy might have laid in that huddle until slowly  
the worms and beetles ate his flesh and his refuge became  
his grave if a snake did not suddenly decide to make the hole  
its home.  
  
It was night as could be determined from the faint light of   
the moon at the entrance to the hole compared to the bright   
light of the day. Of course none of it reached the boy  
hidden deep within the hollow. The snake slowly  
slithered into the entrance. It had sensed the boy but could  
tell it was weakened and thus of no danger. It was too big  
to eat but one bite would send the deadly poison coursing  
through its warm flesh until it became cold like the snake's  
and then the snake would have a home.  
  
For the first time in days Shinta moved. All he could see  
were the golden eyes gleaming at him in the dark. A demon.  
He must have fallen asleep. The ghost was coming to get him  
to take away his life force.  
  
He was scared. His arms and legs weakened after so many   
days of starvation trembled with fear. His lower lip wobbled  
and he sucked harder on his thumb. But for some reason, he couldn't  
cry. He was so scared because he couldn't cry. He wanted mummy and   
daddy. They could tell him how to cry again. But wait, they  
were dead and they died because he Shinta was too weak to  
save them. Everyone died because he was too weak. It was  
his fault it was all his fault, all his fault, all his fault...  
  
Somehow his right hand grabbed hold onto a rock.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
As the katana began its path downwards, Kenshin's hand tightened  
on the hilt of his katana  
  
************************************************************  
  
The golden eyes were coming. Oh they were coming. They  
were coming to kill him. For a moment he wanted to die then  
he could see Mummy and Daddy again. He wanted to sleep  
he hadn't slept since Mummy died.   
  
Then he could hear Mummy's voice again.  
  
"...not...strong..."  
  
Suddenly he remembered. Mummy died because he wasn't strong   
enough. Because...he was weak...he had been afraid to die  
so Mummy died instead. Suddenly it became so clear to him  
the strong survived, the weak died. If he wanted to protect  
the weak like Mummy he had to be strong.   
  
Suddenly the golden eyes lunged at him and he screamed.  
  
In his terror, exhaustion and guilt, something in the little boy's   
mind snapped.   
  
*************************************************************  
  
With a wild cry of pain and loss and guilt Kenshin's mind  
snapped for the second time.  
  
************************************************************  
  
With a renewed strength the starved and weakened boy smashed  
the rock against the snake again and again until it was no  
more than a bloody smudge against the ground.  
  
************************************************************  
  
Screaming, the golden eyed killer flashed his sword. The   
trunk-like arm which had been holding the katana above  
the girl's head dropped to the ground with a thud.  
  
Godo tried to scramble away as he saw a golden-eyed  
death standing over him.  
  
**************************************************************  
  
Shinta finally realized the snake was no longer moving. It  
was dead! He had defeated...Death.   
  
Some of the powerlessness that fuelled his depression and guilt  
for the past for days lifted. Once again he was in control  
of his life. He had been strong. But if he had been strong  
like this before Mummy would never had died. That's what  
Mummy meant by "not strong". Mummy blames me for not being strong.   
Mummy...Mummy hates me! But if I act strong again and again and  
save lots of Mummies, Mummy won't hate me anymore.   
  
For the first time in days he smiled. He   
cuddled the bloody gore stained rock close to him as if it  
was a toy. He resumed his foetal position, putting a blood  
stained thumb in his mouth.  
  
With this I will be strong and save many Mummies and -  
  
- I will kill many many bad people.   
  
*******************************************************************  
  
"DIE!" Kenshin screamed as he prepared to flash down the razor  
sharp blade that would end Godo's life.   
  
From out of nowhere a plank of wood blocked the path of his sword.  
The katana smashed through the wood but the delay gave Godo enough  
time to crawl away.  
  
"Kenshin!" Akane screamed.  
  
She was awakened from her mind-numbing terror in which she was   
reliving the past over and over again by the sudden wrongness  
of the chi she could sense. It was the chi of death and  
it was coming from Kenshin. No! She couldn't let him  
become a killer! He was the only good person she had ever   
met. She couldn't let her shining light be dragged into  
the gutter with the rest of the dirty world.  
  
So she slapped him. When she saw his hand tighten on his sword  
she slapped him again on the other cheek.  
  
For a moment, silence laid heavily in the alleyway. Then  
Kenshin moved his head to look at her and she could see that  
his eyes were once again violet.  
  
Dropping his sword he crouched on the ground, holding his  
head between his hands, rocking himself slowly on his heels.  
  
"Kenshin," she whispered hoarsely. "What...happened?"  
  
"Leave me alone. Just go away." He was so quiet that  
Akane could hardly hear him.  
  
"Kenshin we have to go, we have to go. The Shinsengumi  
would have been informed by the screaming. Look normally  
they don't care about people like us but since we're surrounded  
by a bunch of very badly injured thugs and a guy with his  
arm chopped off I think they'll want to 'talk' to us." She  
looked around and saw Godo about 10 metres away from where they  
were which was against the wall at the end of the ally. "I  
for one don't have any han and I don't think you have either.  
And when you don't have han and the Shinsengumi catch up with  
you, heads roll. And I mean that literally."  
  
Kenshin smiled faintly at her joke. He grasped onto her proffered  
hand as if it was the only stable thing in a world suddenly gone  
haywire.  
  
With a weak hand he gathered his sword and stood up, still trembling  
slightly. His grasp on her hand was almost painful.  
  
Akane looked at the imposing wall in front of them. "Help me   
stack those crat-Ahh!"  
  
Grasping her firmly around the waist, Kenshin simply took off and   
landed on the other side of the wall.  
  
Akane looked admiringly at the red-head. "You know you're handy  
to have around." Kenshin smiled faintly. "And I take back everything  
I said about you not being a swordsman. But don't get big headed  
that's the only argument you'll ever win."  
  
Kenshin was beginning to feel more normal again as his companion  
started her usual jokes.  
  
She started pulling at him. "Come on let's get out of here before  
the boys in blue come along to arrest us." (Author: Well the  
Shinsegumi's uniforms are blue...)  
  
Akane reached into her belt. There were three less needles in there.  
She had recovered quickly enough to drop them next to the wall  
as Kenshin carried her over it.  
*****************************************************************  
  
They finally stopped to take a breather.  
  
As the two children rested, Akane looked at Kenshin with a curiously  
sad look on her face.  
  
'You shouldn't do this you know...Shut up. I have never let anyone  
tell me what to do let alone my own conscience. This boy  
would be perfect for my needs.'  
  
"So Kenshin." The boy turned to face her. "I guess I was  
wrong about you after all. You are a killer."  
  
The boy just looked away.  
  
Akane gave him a brilliant smile. "Do you still want to join the  
Ishin Shishi?"  
  
******************************************************************  
  
"Why are we stopping here?" Kenshin asked puzzled.  
  
"I need to get something," Akane replied. "Wait for me here."  
  
She disappeared behind the corner wall. Once she was sure  
that noone was watching, she took about a bar of soap and  
a water bottle from her robes. Lifting her sleeves she scrubbed  
at the place Godo had held her by. It had been bothering her  
the whole time she had been with Kenshin but she couldn't  
do anything about it till now. She never let anyone see  
her do this. She knew that they would laugh at her if they  
knew she couldn't bear to have anyone touch her. Even  
the slightest touch agains her bare skin was enough to make  
her feel dirty and soiled. There wasn't enough water to  
rinse the soap off completely but she didn't mind. She would  
rather the itchiness of dried soap against her skin than  
that that *dirty* feeling. At least soap was clean.   
  
She never once gave a thought to the fact that a certain  
red haired boy had held her around the waist and her hand  
and that she had not felt dirty for an instant.  
  
**************************************************************  
  
"What on earth do you have there?" Kenshin remarked looking  
at the long rectangular shaped bundle on Akane's back.  
  
She smiled fondly at it. "Its the only thing I have that I  
care for. Its been with my scho...I mean family for thirteen  
generations. Basically..."  
  
Her face suddenly became SD as she pressed it near Kenshin's.  
  
"IF YOU TOUCH IT I WILL KILLLLL YOU!!!!"  
  
"ORO!!!"  
  
**************************************************************  
  
As they walked along the main road, Akane suddenly stumbled.  
Kenshin looked at her in concern as an expression of pain  
came over her face.   
  
"Are you OK, Akane?!"  
  
Akane smiled, the expression of pain fading quickly.   
  
"Everything's fine now."  
  
************************************************************  
  
Kilometres away, Godo's body stiffened in death. The only  
clue were the three needles sticking out of his throat.   
  
His body was ten metres away from the wall Akane and Kenshin  
had jumped over where he had been laying ever since the two  
children left, having fainted  
from fear.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
"So Akane."  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"You've never told me your full name..."  
  
"Oh I don't often tell people it. I know its rude but it  
does make it harder for people to track me. Its Hiko,  
Hiko Akane."  
  
Kenshin suddenly stopped walking. "Hiko?! Wow. What  
a coincidence. My master's name is Hiko, Hiko Seijuro?"  
  
This time it was Akane's turn to stop. "Hiko...Seijuro...?"  
  
"Is something the matter?"  
  
Akane laughed. "Oh I was just thinking there's no Seijuro  
in my immediate family tree. Must be just coincidence that  
we have the same family name."  
  
Hiko Seijuro....  
  
Vague memories flashed through Akane's head.   
  
A white and red cloak. A Dragon. A flashing sword.   
  
He is Kenshin's Master....?  
Impossible...  
He died three centuries ago...  
  
A man lying in the snow, frozen to death a look of sorrow and  
pain on his face and tracking down his cold face, a single  
frozen tear. Small feminine hands reached down and grabbed  
the scroll he was holding in his hands. A scroll showing   
a beautiful maiden, with fire-red hair and warm violet eyes.  
  
I have memories of his death....There is no way he could  
be alive after all this time! Its impossible.  
  
I still remember the blood as his body was sliced up, as it  
was scattered around the mountain so that his soul could never find   
peace.   
  
My memories can't be wrong! That bastard Hiko Seijuro died three   
centuries ago. We made sure of that.  



End file.
